A wide variety of sealants, lubricants, adhesives and the like compounds or products which are typically viscous rather than free-flowing, are dispensed from deformable containers such as tubes onto surfaces where they need to be applied, spread, and distributed appropriately. Most such tubes simply permit dispensing of a stream or ribbon of such a compound, which then requires spreading or distribution by finger or by an auxiliary brush.
In the past suggestions have been made to use tubes with applicator/spreaders associated with them. However, applicator/spreaders, such as those which make use of traditional bunched bristle assemblies distributed as in a circular array, are unsuitable for a number of reasons, including the fact that they permit the compound to escape laterally outwardly through and between the bristles and because they tend to remove the spread compound from the areas to which the compound is applied. A typical bunched bristle assembly applicator which has been suggested for cosmetic use and which would present such a problem, and which therefore is representative of the prior art problems, is illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,157.
It would be of advantage to provide an improved applicator/spreader for applying, distributing and spreading relatively viscous compounds from deformable tubes which does not have the disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art.